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Growing up on the Great Plains and witnessing the struggles of migrant workers in California made Sanora Babb uniquely qualified to write the story of the Dust Bowl. Her novel Whose Names Are Unknown was slated for publication by Random House in 1939 until The Grapes of Wrath beat her book to the punch. John Steinbeck actually used Babb’s notes and research to write his Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel, but did he get the story right? Iris Jamahl Dunkle, author of a new biography on Babb, joins us to explain why this long-lost “Dust Bowl” novel (finally published in 2004) deserves more recognition.

Mentioned in this episode:

Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb by Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Whose Names Are Unknown by Sanora Babb

Charmian Kittredge London: Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer by Iris Jamahl Dunkle

West: Fire: Archiveby Iris Jamahl Dunkle

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 152 on  Janet Lewis

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 27 on Charmian Kittredge London

The Dust Bowl a film by Ken Burns

The Girl by Meridel Le Seuer

The Lost Traveler by Sanora Babb

An Owl on Every Post by Sanora Babb

Tom Collins

Ralph Ellison

William Saroyan

Carlos Bulosan

Ray Bradbury

Tillie Olsen

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